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Beyond Woodberry: Caleb Rogers ’16

College has been a welcomed change of scenery. Aspects of William and Mary remind me of Woodberry, like the brickwork and teachers. As a whole though, it has been quite a change. The campus ratio is pleasantly not as skewed, and class seems more comfortable in a t-shirt, untucked. At Woodberry, I can’t say I ever saw an afternoon pickup game of Quidditch on Grainger, but I’ve passed by a few hotly contested matches here. Dorms are something I got used to at Woodberry. Here, I forget that most students are coming from day-school, but am quickly reminded when my neighbor John from Florida has his nightly phone calls with Mom and Dad. It’s nice having many more weekend options now, but I’m still craving the Fir Tree as much as ever.

From left to right: Sam Carter ’16, Caleb Rogers, Nick Switzer ’16, and Thomas Radke ’16 at the Bonfire

While I’ve had to remember the names of new buildings and ways about campus, college has felt like a continuance of something I started years ago. The change of scenery isn’t necessarily a change of habit and routine. The work is hard, but easy to do with the management Woodberry teaches. Now that I get to choose my own classes, it’s not so bad anyway. I’m not in my room with the books open from 7:45pm to 10:00pm anymore, but the habit of finding that scheduled time to get your HW done has helped greatly. With bits of free time during the day, I can slowly, but surely get through the huge readings in Ethics I have often. If you’re wondering, yes, a self-proclaimed funny guy asked the professor if she would’ve shot Harambe on day 1 of class. She only rolled her eyes and doesn’t call on him anymore.

I’m absolutely not going to drone on about finding a good balance in college. I’d hardly even know after being here only three weeks. The important thing to know is Woodberry prepares you well. Some of the classes I was warned against taking are easily doable with the study habits I learned through the last four years. I listened to our RA talk to the dorm intently on how to do laundry when it’s something I’d been doing at WFS for years. Probably less often than I should’ve though. The daily track practices I had encouraged me to stay active here in the gym or on IM teams. Senior spring Rec Golf did not add to that encouragement, but do it anyway it’s the greatest.

It’s easy to see how meaningful Woodberry was now that I’m not a student. If you don’t remember any part of the European history reading about the Protestant reformation, you’re at least learning to get through difficult material inadvertently. The tough times at the Forest teach the most. I miss it and hope to visit for The Game. I have come to appreciate it in a different light these past few months. I’ve easily felt prepared during these first few weeks, and I don’t see that changing during my time at William and Mary. I have Woodberry to thank for that.